Now the time of David's death came near and he gave orders to Solomon his son, saying,

And keep the orders of the Lord your God, walking in his ways, keeping his laws and his orders and his rules and his words, as they are recorded in the law of Moses so that you may do well in all you do and wherever you go,

Now you have knowledge of what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me, and to the two captains of the army of Israel, Abner, the son of Ner, and Amasa, the son of Jether, whom he put to death, taking payment for the blood of war in time of peace, and making the band of my clothing and the shoes on my feet red with the blood of one put to death without cause.

But be good to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be guests at your table for so they came to me when I went in flight from Absalom your brother.

But do not let him be free from punishment, for you are a wise man and it will be clear to you what you have to do with him see that his white head goes down to the underworld in blood.

David was king over Israel for forty years: for seven years he was king in Hebron and for thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to Bath-sheba, the mother of Solomon. And she said, Come you in peace? And he said, Yes, in peace.

And he said, You saw how the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had the idea that I would be their king but now the kingdom is turned about, and has become my brother's, for it was given to him by the Lord.

Then he said, Will you go to Solomon the king (for he will not say, No, to you) and put before him my request that he will give me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife?

So Bath-sheba went to King Solomon to have talk with him on Adonijah's account. And the king got up to come to her, and went down low to the earth before her then he took his place on the king's seat and had a seat made ready for the king's mother and she took her place at his right hand.

And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother for a wife.

Then King Solomon took an oath by the Lord, saying, May God's punishment be on me if Adonijah does not give payment for these words with his life.

And King Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and he made an attack on him and put him to death.

So Solomon let Abiathar be priest no longer, so that he might make the word of the Lord come true which he said about the sons of Eli in Shiloh.

And they said to King Solomon, Joab has gone in flight to the Tent of the Lord and is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, make an attack on him.

And the king said, Do as he has said and make an attack on him there, and put his body into the earth so that you may take away from me and from my family the blood of one put to death by Joab without cause.

So their blood will be on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed for ever but for David and his seed and his family and the seat of his kingdom, there will be peace for ever from the Lord.

And the king put Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, in his place over the army and Zadok the priest he put in the place of Abiathar.

For be certain that on the day when you go out and go over the stream Kidron, death will overtake you: and your blood will be on your head.

But after three years, two of the servants of Shimei went in flight to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And word was given to Shimei that his servants had gone to Gath.

And news was given to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back again.

Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the order which I gave you?

But a blessing will be on King Solomon, and the kingdom of David will keep its place before the Lord for ever.

Solomon became the son-in-law of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter as his wife, keeping her in the town of David, till the house he was building for himself, and the house of the Lord and the wall round Jerusalem, were complete.

And Solomon, in his love for the Lord, kept the laws of David his father but he made offerings and let them go up in smoke on the high places.

In Gibeon, Solomon had a vision of the Lord in a dream by night and God said to him, Say what I am to give you.

And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father and I am only a young boy, with no knowledge of how to go out or come in.

Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil for who is able to be the judge of this great people?

And God said to him, Because your request is for this thing, and not for long life for yourself or for wealth or for the destruction of your haters, but for wisdom to be a judge of causes

And with this I have given you what you made no request for: wealth and honour, so that no king was ever your equal.

And Solomon, awakening, saw that it was a dream then he came to Jerusalem, where he went before the ark of the agreement of the Lord, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings and he made a feast for all his servants.

And one of them said, O my lord, I and this woman are living in the same house and I gave birth to a child by her side in the house.

In the night, this woman, sleeping on her child, was the cause of its death.

And when I got up to give my child the breast, I saw that it was dead but in the morning, looking at it with care, I saw that it was not my son.

Then the king said, One says, The living child is my son, and yours is the dead: and the other says, Not so but your son is the dead one and mine is the living.

And the king said, Let the living child be cut in two and one half given to one woman and one to the other.

Then the king made answer and said, Give her the child, and do not put it to death she is the mother of it.

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends words of love to the twelve tribes of the Jews living in all parts of the earth.

Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope

But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.

Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord

But let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted up

For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways.

Let no man say when he is tested, I am tested by God for it is not possible for God to be tested by evil, and he himself puts no man to such a test:

Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.

Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.

You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry

For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation.

Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass

But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts.

The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.